


Her Courage

by DetectiveRoboRyan



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: (Denial ain't just a river), Canon Divergent, F/F, Fluff, In Which Everyone is Okay, Miscellaneous Backstory Bits, Pre-Wedding Shenanigans, Sad beginning fluffy ending, Universe Alteration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-27
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-04-06 10:44:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4218738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DetectiveRoboRyan/pseuds/DetectiveRoboRyan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oh, let's just give them a happy ending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Her Courage

Emmeryn hated heights.  
  
That was one of the first things Phila had learned about her, actually. Phila liked looking back on that day at times she felt down, or just needed a memory to think about. It hadn’t seemed like much at the time, but over the years it’d spun into something better than anything she could come up with. And even now, as she sat pensively on the ledge with her legs dangling over the castle courtyard below, not necessarily sad or upset but merely thoughtful, it was a memory she liked to look back on.  
  
They’d been mere children then, and Phila had been on a tour of the caste with the other new pages. Ylisse’s need for new knights never ended, after all, Pegasus or otherwise. Phila hadn’t really been /sure/ about being a knight, but her parents wanted her to, and being all of six years old, she wasn’t sure of a lot of things, other than that she could really use a snack.  
  
On their way through the stables, Phila had gotten separated from the others. She was one of the smallest, after all, and she’d gotten stuck behind a big door by accident, and by the time she’d wiggled out, everyone else was gone. It occurred to her to ask someone, but Phila’s idea of a future knight didn’t need to ask for help, because she always knew the clever thing to do. So even though it may not have been the best idea, she picked a direction people were walking in and went that way.  
  
That way led her to the garden, and to a fountain with a marble dolphin spitting water, surrounded by other slightly-tacky forms of thematic sculpture. It was kind of ugly, Phila remembered thinking, and the last she saw of the thing it still was. And then she’d heard the sound of quiet crying, and run to investigate. That was what knights did, after all, and Phila figured if she had to be a knight, she’d at least be a good one.  
  
Which was where she’d found the little princess Emmeryn, who had gotten herself stuck in a tree and didn’t seem able to come down. Phila had asked the obvious, which was why she didn’t just climb down, and Emm had said because she was scared of heights. After a bit of figuring, Phila offered to catch her if she jumped, and Emm hadn’t agreed at first, but then the branch under her had broken and she didn’t exactly have a choice. Phila had caught her to the best of her abilities, and subsequently landed the both of them on the ground, but Emmeryn wasn’t hurt and aside from the air being knocked out of Phila’s lungs, neither was she. It proved to be the start of a beautiful friendship.  
  
And nearly twenty years later, Phila could only wonder what it must have been like to stand at this precipice with an axe to her back and an army of angry people that wanted nothing more than to see her fall watching. Phila could only imagine how afraid she must have been, though she hadn’t shown it.  
  
Emmeryn had courage, Phila had figured out long ago. It made her think that maybe if she’d been a little quicker, a little cleverer, a little bit more like Emm, that she would’ve made it in time to save her. Perhaps that was selfish thinking on her part, thinking herself a hero that always gets the girl, but she couldn’t help but think it anyway. There had to have been something she’d done wrong.  
  
It was often Phila thought herself undeserving of guarding a woman like Emmeryn. It was one thing when they were children, when Emm was just the princess and Phila snuck into the castle to play as often as she could, or when they were teenagers and Emm had blown her a kiss during a tournament and Phila had turned beet-red and gotten knocked off her horse. Emm had always been graceful and kind and eternally patient, even when she wasn’t. Emm was only human, ethereal as she seemed, and of all people, Phila knew this most. Phila was Emm’s closest friend, her most loyal guard, her most trusted advisor. Phila knew secrets that anyone else would never dream of knowing, secrets whispered under bedcovers in the dead of night and promised solemnly to remain so, cross her heart and hope to die.  
  
She had been friends with Emmeryn for most of their lives now, and it was an honor beyond description, but she couldn’t help but doubt herself sometimes. Did she really deserve this?  
  
Phila would have been too deep in thought to notice anyone come up behind her, but since Emmeryn had a way of gliding everywhere she went like some form of mythical spirit, it nearly made her fall off the precipice. And she would have, if gentle hands hadn’t taken her arm before she did.  
  
“Careful there, love,” Emm said in that gentle, loving voice that made Phila want to melt. “There’s no lake to break your fall this time.”  
  
“I suppose it isn’t quite possible to marry a grease spot,” Phila admitted. “Don’t worry, Emm. I earned my wings, remember?” A grin tugged at the corners of her mouth then, because it was true. She was a full-fledged Pegasus Knight— a Falcon Knight, now, actually, which was the highest honor any Pegasus Knight could be given.  
  
“Just because you’ve earned them doesn’t mean you can fly with them,” Emm replied. “Come on, we’re on a schedule. Remember, the ceremony is all the way back in Ylisstol?”  
  
“You act like I’d forget,” Phila chuckled, standing up and dusting her knees off. “I’ve been looking forward to this moment since we were kids.”  
  
Emm laughed quietly, kissing Phila’s cheek and looking out off the precipice, over the desert landscape and into the dusty blue sky. Phila could tell by the look in Emm’s eyes that she thought it was beautiful, every grain of sand forming the vast landscape. She loved everything so deeply, so incredibly, that it made Phila wonder how she did it. Even with the circumstances of which she’d last stood up here, with the sun on her back and the hard rock under her feet, Emm held no regret or animosity for the place. It was beautiful, like everywhere else she could ever go.  
  
Phila took her hand, lacing their fingers together. “It must have been scary,” she remarked, her voice low. “Terrifying, even. Last time, I mean.”  
  
“Why would it be?” Emm’s voice was serene, but Phila didn’t believe it.  
  
“You’re scared of heights,” Phila brought up. “And you’re only human. No matter how much you act untouched by anger or fear or sadness, no matter how much they expect you to be, anyone sound of mind would be afraid in… in a situation like that.”  
  
Emm waited before answering. “I suppose I was afraid,” she began. “Of beginning another war that would throw both countries into havoc. Of leaving Chrom and Lissa before they were ready. Of leaving you. But not of falling.”  
  
“I’d think that would be what you were most afraid of,” Phila said, puzzled. “You always told me it wasn’t the heights that was scary, it was the anticipation. Knowing that if you did fall, there would be no turning back, and all you would be able to do is wait until the final moment. It would be the helplessness you were truly afraid of.”  
  
“Oh, but I was anything but helpless.” Emm’s voice sounded stronger, less hesitant. “I knew what I was doing that day. I would do it, if I had to. And in that, I was not afraid.”  
  
“You’re incredible,” Phila sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t know if I could ever be as strong as you are, in that situation. You know me— I’d do something absurd and get myself killed, or something.”  
  
“Phi, don’t say that,” Emm insisted. “It isn’t because of me I wasn’t afraid, it was because of you.”  
  
Phila didn’t quite believe what she was hearing. “What do you mean?”  
  
Emmeryn’s grip on her hand tightened then. “You’ve been my best friend for most of our lives now. Through everything, you’ve always protected me, always been there. We’ve been through so much together, so much I don’t know I could bear if I were alone— but I wasn’t, because you were there, too. You are my courage, Phila, and I don’t think I would be anywhere near who I am today without you.”  
  
The words made Phila want to burst. Every word that came out of Emmeryn’s mouth then was sincere, had more heart behind it than anything Phila could think of. She wanted to kiss Emmeryn, right then and there, not caring if anybody saw or yelled at them to get off that highly dangerous precipice before they fell to their deaths, and then hold her and never let go. She wanted to express herself and what she felt in some way that made sense— and she didn’t have the confidence that she could use words well enough.  
  
So she did, unable to hold herself back, but the kiss was as gentle and loving as it was passionate. There was no awkward nose-squishing, far less bumping of teeth than there was their first few times. But like those childish, unpracticed kisses of the past, what was behind them was something that could only be described as pure, unrestrained love. Phila only hoped it got her message across.  
  
“I love you,” she murmured when she pulled away, burying her face in Emmeryn’s neck and her locks of blonde hair.  
  
“I love you too, that’s why we’re getting married,” Emm replied. Phila had to laugh at that, kissing Emm’s jaw and finally pulling away, her face flushed. It was so silly, because they were, weren’t they? The war was over and the peace Emmeryn had worked so hard for was finally a reality, and there was nothing stopping them anymore. No one could say it was impractical or unreasonable to marry for real now, even for the Exalt and her captain of the guard.  
  
“Should we go down the safe way, or the fun way?” Phila asked with a grin, glancing to her pegasus— the most patient pegasus in the world, Phila would add— gnawing on some extra hay not too far from the precipice.  
  
Emm sighed, but she was smiling. “Oh, fine. But just this once— Phila!”  
  
She didn’t get a chance to finish. Phila, grinning in glee, had scooped her up in her arms and mounted her pegasus. In the next six seconds, they were in the air, Emm’s arms wrapped tight around Phila’s neck as Phila held her close, making sure she wouldn’t fall.  
  
And the sounds anyone else would hear over the beating of pegasus wings would be laughter, unrestrained laughter from the Exalt and the woman she loved.

**Author's Note:**

> Phila isn't dead and Emm didn't lose her memory, tf are you talking about


End file.
